Vol. 10 (2019): Modern Identities and Classical Antiquity

Studies on the “uses of the past” have steadily and consistently advanced over the past twenty years. Following the seminal studies by Hobsbawm and Ranger and Benedict Anderson on the role of narratives of the past in constructing (national) identities, and thanks to the development of the academic field of reception studies, the attention for cultural memory and lieux de mémoire has been steadily growing over the past two decades. Many publications have thus investigated the role of nearer and further time layers in defining and determining structures of identity and senses of belonging across the world. Didactics of history has also contributed a great deal to this field of studies, also thanks to the always more refined methodologies of school book analysis. Classical Antiquity has obviously not been neglected, and much research has been dedicated to its role in the development and reinforcement of modern identities. Yet, not only some areas of the world have remained less considered than others, but most attention has been dedicated to national identities, nationalistic discourses, and their activation through historical narratives. This special issues of thersites wants to contribute further to research on the role of Classical Antiquity within modern identities, asking scholars to focus especially on the geographic and thematic areas that have been until now less strongly represented in scholarship. A reviews section completes the volume, presenting to the reader and discussing recent literature on the subject.